While setting up my daughters laptop I see that there is not a COA sticker anywhere on the body of the laptop, the box, nor a paper included. I chatted with HP and they said the COA is embedded in the "Insyde" bios, will know inherently that it is authentic and activates automatically. It seems like it has to go even deeper than that since I already updated the bios to the latest on HP's site and it still let me upgrade to Win8.1... Still, it seems weird to not have an authentic COA on the case anywhere. I did use MagicJellyBean and found the key that is on record in the Win8 install, so I would like to wipe this bloatware build and install a clean OEM version of Win8 but I won't know if that key will be recognized with the OEM Win8 media that I have. They wouldn't answer that query and evaded by saying that I can use the recovery partition, but of course that just takes me back to their bloated version of Win8 that needs to be updated and upgraded and they aren't going to support me taking their version off even if it would be an improvement. After an OS has some time on it I like to use NLite to make a custom build with current updates so when I reinstall I don't have to re-update from scratch, so it remains to be seen whether I will be able to do that anymore.

I have come to the conclusion that "FaceBook" should be renamed "FacePalm"

Yup, all the "off the shelf" PCs have no sticker anymore, and its up to the end user to create the restore disks. If you have not done it yet, use the utility on there to create the system restore disks. If not, when the drive dies you're buying the OS again to get it up and running. Also those disks are locked to that system, so you can't use them on another system, even if you bought 3 identical systems. Each much have their own set of disks created.

Or use something like Acronis to image the drive.

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." -Thomas Jefferson

I have already upgraded the OS to Win8.1, when I make recovery discs will it only make recovery disks pertinent to what is on the recovery partition, or will it take the new files from the OS as it is now? Also, I haven't yet installed her graphics programs for her wacom and her preferred shop tool, nor Office yet (not paying to use 365, will install the older version that she is used to from her old computer. Should I make the discs before I continue to install all her external programs, or does it matter? Also, when will it be safe to delete the windows.old file that Win8.1 created when it upgraded from Win8?

On another note, I'm still leaning towards retro-ing her back to Win7, even with classic shell she doesn't like Win8 so far (and seems slower than I thought it would be, maybe due to HP bloatware and Norton which IS coming off lol). As long as the recovery partition is uncorrupted and I can make good recovery discs I don't have anything to worry about if I need to go back to Win8, right? I could probably try to create another partition to dual-boot but don't really want to get that involved with it since it is HER laptop after all and I have been hogging it all weekend,

Thanks as always for the help Bubba. BTW I did have my eye on an A-8 for her, but I had a great chance to get a 4th gen i3-4000m for only $400 so jumped on it, so far the HD4600 graphics seem up to par and I figure if her old C2D E6700 and Dell Q33/35 express graphics was up to the task for her wacom tablet drawings and editing then this should cover it as well. She wanted the biggest screen she could get, this one was one of the very few in this price range available with 17" and 1600x900 resolution so I had to give it a shot. Got it from Best Buy so if it doesn't work out can always return it to the B&M and try another model. I myself would like to have an A10-5750 but I need to get a running vehicle first, and Christmas was the most important thing to get out of the way with two kids in the house, you know how that is being a Dad yourself ;)

I have come to the conclusion that "FaceBook" should be renamed "FacePalm"

From what I can tell from the ones I have messed with they only do what is in the recovery partition. If you want all the 3rd party stuff, look at getting Acronis True Image or something like it. Will snap shot the whole drive.

HP bloat is horrendous, and their stuff digs into everything. Worse than Norton 360 in my opinion.

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." -Thomas Jefferson

Yeah, and Norton is pre-loaded into this as well. I haven't uninstalled it yet, maybe that will help. I'd rather use Defender on her laptop than Norton, and if I have to move up to a better security than that I'll use COMODO, been using that for years on my other systems.

Something else I just noticed--no "Win8" sticker anywhere on the laptop body either, letting you know which OS is factory loaded. I wonder if this one slipped through the cracks, or they just don't do stickers anymore either? I can understand not having a COA sticker (I guess) but no Windows 8 sticker? Maybe I need to chat with HP one more time and see if they'll send me one. I'll be sure to hold my breath

I went ahead and made the set of 6 single layer recovery DVDs last night, had one coaster but it did take note of that and re-burned it so I should have a valid set. From the documentation I found they are made from the recovery partition so I guess I hadn't screwed it up yet, and upgrading to 8.1 didn't hurt it either. Of course there is no way to know until I have to actually use them, by then it is too late, eh?

Since I did get the installed COA key from MJB, I will keep an eye out for a good OEM source for Win8 that isn't bloated and see if that makes much difference. The pixie wants me to retrograde it to Win7 since she has that on her desktop and likes it better than this, so I have to decide whether to wipe the current OS partition and do that, or perhaps try to do a dual=boot, although I'm not sure I want to mess with that either. Space is not a problem, this has a 750GB drive and she never has filled up the 80GB SATA in her desktop (not into vids, and her drawings don't take up much space). I'm tempted to get a cheap SSD to install Win7 on for her lappie, and get a USB enclosure for the 2.5" drive and use it as an external. Of course that will be another $90 and my wallet us hurting as it is.

I have come to the conclusion that "FaceBook" should be renamed "FacePalm"

Sometimes they come under the battery. Windows 8 has a feature that will nuke all the bloatware and just re-install windows without any media like you can on your phone. You can also create a bootable recovery image so can regain that partition space. If you are going to install Windows 7 I would delete all the partitions AFTER you create a windows 8 recovery media. Make sure you test and store it somewhere safe. I usually create a good size partition for windows (100 gigs or so) and create one large one after windows is installed. You can point the desktop, videos pictures, etc to the second partition just in case you get a nasty virus and decided to format the C: drive.

I checked under the battery, and also under the service door just in case. HP Chat confirmed that they don't necessarily put a COA sticker on anymore due to the product key being embedded in the bios. I don't understand how that can be since I have already updated the bios to the latest on the HP site for this laptop (F15 for the HP 17-e019dx ) which is just a normal bios download like any other so ??? .There is also no indication in the bios of a product key, but then again this bios is the most locked of any PC I've ever owned, it is an Insyde (not the InsydeH20) and the only thing I can change is the date and time, and some boot options. It doesn't have the "hidden" menu opened by hitting "A" like some other HP laptops with Insyde bioses, but maybe I'm just doing that wrong. All it does it beep angrily at me when I try that.

I have made the recovery DVDs, but the idea of the minimal recovery has piqued my interest so I may use the recovery partition to try that for the minimal bloat version. I still haven't registered it with HP yet (I didn't receive it until 1/17/2014 but I think they go by the online purchase date of 1/11/2014 so I'm about out of time to return it to BestBuy but I don't foresee that anyway, this is a nice little lappie for $400).

I have come to the conclusion that "FaceBook" should be renamed "FacePalm"